1. Make sure you know what platform(s) you'll be playing this on for the future. Licenses on console, PC, and steam are all separate, confusing, and unnecessarily restrictive.

- If you buy the base game from Steam, you have to buy the expansion from Steam.
- If you buy the base game for PC (non-steam), you have to buy the expansion for PC (non-steam).
- If you buy the base game for a console, you have to buy the expansion for the same console.
- If you want to play on multiple platforms, you must buy the base game+expansions again for those other platforms. Otherwise you won't be able to login through those platforms with the same account.

2. Know the trial limitations. These change once in a while.
http://support.na.square-enix.com/faqarticle.php?id=5382&kid=70929

- 1 character per server, 8 characters total. Not a big deal since you can play every class on a single character.
- level cap of 35 for each class. This gives you the space to try every class up to their job advancements.
- lowered gil cap. Unless you are going crazy in crafting/gathering, it's very unlikely you'll ever reach this cap anyway.
- Cannot use /yell, /tell, /shout, form a party, use marketboard, use retainers, trade, or join free companies (guilds). These are all put in place to restrict gold spammers and bot farming. But it also heavily restricts normal players from making friends, helping others (or requesting help), managing their inventory, or even just checking the value of stuff to see whats worth keeping/trashing.

3. Learn about enmity/aggro management before joining a party. The game has a Hall of Novice tutorial around lvl 15 that tries to teach you about these mechanics, but I find it inadequate and it is a core mechanic to all party content. tl;dr tank should have all the aggro, dps should always focus whatever the tank is hitting, and healer should avoid overhealing players. Unless you are the tank, you should avoid using aoe skills until much later in the game as they create a ton of enmity quickly. Breaking these will usually mean the enemies aggro the dps/healer, you all die one by one, and everyone gets salty.

4. The game is very story driven, combat is really slow and forgiving early on, and the trial stops long before things get interesting. If you are a familiar fan of Final Fantasy lore then this will be fantastic for you. If you are new, this might easily bore you until later expansions. You do not need to know anything about the final fantasy franchise to enjoy this.

5. This is an mmo. While this is one of the most casual friendly mmo's out there, expect some grinding.

1. Make sure you know what platform(s) you'll be playing this on for the future. Licenses on console, PC, and steam are all separate, confusing, and unnecessarily restrictive. - If you buy the base game from Steam, you have to buy the expansion from Steam. - If you buy the base game for PC (non-steam), you have to buy the expansion for PC (non-steam). - If you buy the base game for a console, you have to buy the expansion for the same console. - If you want to play on multiple platforms, you must buy the base game+expansions again for those other platforms. Otherwise you won't be able to login through those platforms with the same account. 2. Know the trial limitations. These change once in a while. http://support.na.square-enix.com/faqarticle.php?id=5382&kid=70929 - 1 character per server, 8 characters total. Not a big deal since you can play every class on a single character. - level cap of 35 for each class. This gives you the space to try every class up to their job advancements. - lowered gil cap. Unless you are going crazy in crafting/gathering, it's very unlikely you'll ever reach this cap anyway. - Cannot use /yell, /tell, /shout, form a party, use marketboard, use retainers, trade, or join free companies (guilds). These are all put in place to restrict gold spammers and bot farming. But it also heavily restricts normal players from making friends, helping others (or requesting help), managing their inventory, or even just checking the value of stuff to see whats worth keeping/trashing. 3. Learn about enmity/aggro management before joining a party. The game has a Hall of Novice tutorial around lvl 15 that tries to teach you about these mechanics, but I find it inadequate and it is a core mechanic to all party content. tl;dr tank should have all the aggro, dps should always focus whatever the tank is hitting, and healer should avoid overhealing players. Unless you are the tank, you should avoid using aoe skills until much later in the game as they create a ton of enmity quickly. Breaking these will usually mean the enemies aggro the dps/healer, you all die one by one, and everyone gets salty. 4. The game is very story driven, combat is really slow and forgiving early on, and the trial stops long before things get interesting. If you are a familiar fan of Final Fantasy lore then this will be fantastic for you. If you are new, this might easily bore you until later expansions. You do not need to know anything about the final fantasy franchise to enjoy this. 5. This is an mmo. While this is one of the most casual friendly mmo's out there, expect some grinding.